Karen Clementina Theodora Danielsen Biography

Biography

Born Karen Clementina Theodora Danielsen in 1885, Karen Horney (HAWR-ni) is known for her pioneering work as a psychiatrist, and she was one of the earliest critics of Sigmund Freud’s work with women. In 1974, psychologist Robert Coles described Horney as “a prophet” who “dared look with some distance and detachment at her own profession.”

She was raised in a home with one sibling (her older brother Berndt) and four stepsiblings from her father’s previous marriage. Her mother was quite a bit younger than her father, and their uneven and difficult marriage provided a backdrop for Horney’s own feelings about how women and men coexist.

Horney began her writing early in life, at the age of thirteen, and continued her diaries until she was twenty-six. The Adolescent Diaries of Karen Horney provide a glimpse into Horney’s innermost early feelings about womanhood, morality, religion, and culture. In 1899, Horney wrote in her diary that she intended to “serve mankind through curing diseases” by becoming a doctor, in spite of the cultural proscriptions about women attempting such a profession. Horney’s plan was very clear from the start: In that same year, she set forth a five-point plan in her diary, detailing her future in five steps and ending with the entry, “you see, dear Diary, fate will have an easy time with me, for I plan everything for him.”

In 1901, the Hamburg Gymnasium became open to girls for the first time, meaning that Horney would be able to realize her dream of a medical education. Attending this school was a time of experimentation and differentiation from her family. Horney began to form opinions regarding the nature of sexuality and female sexual expression that informed much of her later work. During this time, she showed her willingness to challenge the ideas of morality prescribed by the church and by society. Horney clearly wished for a more progressive view of herself as an individual.